One of our students was struggling with rushing through problems. Despite knowing how to do the problems, he was constantly making mistakes.
He went so fast that he was missing keywords, copying down wrong numbers, and not really understanding what the problem was asking.
Sometimes students feel like going faster means that they are smarter at math. Other times, they feel like they aren’t going fast enough, so they try to take shortcuts to get the problems done faster.
Finally, there are the students who want to get the math completed as soon as possible because math isn’t their best subject and they want to get it over with.
They try to go as fast as possible, without taking the time to really understand what they are doing.
As a result, they make a lot of mistakes.
Rushing through problems and making mistakes can cause more anxiety. Depending on your student’s age, there are different things that may help them slow down and catch their mistakes.
There are six things you can do to help your students of all ages slow down and avoid making mistakes.
1. Challenge them to see if they can catch their own mistakes before you do. This can help make it fun and take some of the pressure off. For younger students, this turns finding mistakes into a game.
2. Underline keywords. Have them write something down after each sentence when working on word problems. This will help them focus on each individual step.
3. Use a highlighter to identify common errors. This will help them to identify patterns in their mistakes and make corrections.
4. Cover up the rest of the pages so they can only see the problem at hand. This will help them focus on one problem at a time instead of getting overwhelmed by all the information on the page.
5. Set a timer but challenge them to use it almost all the time before moving on. This will help them slow down and really think about each problem. Give them enough time to work at a steady pace, but not too much time that they stay on a problem too long. Encourage them that moving forward consistently is better than moving too quickly or too slowly.
6. Create reminder cards with the steps or hints for solving math problems. After the kids solve each problem, have them check the cards to make sure they followed all the steps correctly.
By using these strategies, you can help your kids be more intentional in the way they work, grow in math confidence, and better understand the material.
I hope this helps you out!
